Carpesium triste
StarCarpesium triste
Synonyms: Carpesium tristiforme, Carpesium pseudotracheliifolium, Carpesium manshuricum
Safety at a glance
No rule in our tables for this herb: pregnancy, breastfeeding, incompatible pairs (十八反 / 十九畏), herb–drug, dose ceiling. This is not a safety clearance.
Not graded — No toxicity grade is recorded. Most herbs in the catalogue carry none.
Traditionally used for
- Teeth & mouth
- Colds & fever
- Bowel health
- Menstrual & women's health
Cautions & contraindications
- Allergy risk
Western Herbalism Properties
Traditional Uses
In China, Korea and Japan the root, stem, leaf and fruit of Carpesium triste have long been used in traditional medicine to treat fevers, mastitis, toothache and diarrhoea, attributed to the plant's anti-inflammatory, antifebrile and styptic (astringent) properties (Wang et al., 2015).
Botanical Description
Carpesium triste is a rare perennial herb of the aster family (Asteraceae) distributed through China, the Korean Peninsula and Japan, where it grows in forest margins, shaded grassy slopes, streamsides and moist montane meadows. It forms a basal rosette and erect, sparsely branched stems up to about 50 to 100 centimetres tall, clothed in soft hairs. The leaves are alternate, the lower ones large, oblong to ovate and narrowed into a winged petiole, the upper ones progressively smaller and sessile. The nodding flower heads are solitary or few in the upper leaf axils and at the stem tips, discoid and yellowish, lacking showy ray florets and subtended by leafy bracts. The fruits are small, narrow, ribbed achenes bearing a glandular beak. The genus is noted for its bitter sesquiterpene lactones.
Active Constituents
Divaricin B
Germacranolide sesquiterpene lactoneConcentration: Minor isolate from the chloroform-soluble fraction of the whole plant
Systematic name 2alpha,5-epoxy-5,10-dihydroxy-6alpha,9beta-diangeloyloxy-germacran-8alpha,12-olide. Isolated from whole plants of the manshuricum variety, it was cytotoxic to A549 lung, SK-OV-3 ovarian, SK-MEL-2 melanoma, XF498 CNS and HCT15 colon carcinoma lines with ED50 values in the 4.3 to 16.8 micromolar range. It is not selective for tumour cells and this is cell-culture data only.
2alpha,5-Epoxy-5,10-dihydroxy-6alpha-angeloyloxy-9beta-(3-methylbutyryloxy)-germacran-8alpha,12-olide
Germacranolide sesquiterpene lactoneConcentration: Minor whole-plant isolate; abbreviated EDAG in the pharmacology literature
Suppressed nitric oxide production and inducible nitric oxide synthase mRNA and protein in LPS-activated macrophages by blocking NF-kappaB activation, sparing I-kappaB-alpha from degradation and reducing p65 nuclear translocation, with reduced ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK phosphorylation but no change in JNK. This is the best-characterised anti-inflammatory constituent of the species.
1-Oxo-11alphaH-eudesma-2,4(14)-dien-12,8beta-olide
Eudesmanolide sesquiterpene lactoneConcentration: New minor constituent of the whole plant reported in 2014
One of several eudesmanolides recovered from whole plants alongside four guaianolides and two germacranolides. No bioactivity was reported for it; it is cited here as a chemical marker for the species rather than as an active.
6,8-Dihydroxy-8a-methyl-3,5-dimethylidenedecahydronaphtho[2,3-b]furan-2(3H)-one
Eudesmanolide sesquiterpene lactone (alpha-methylene-gamma-butyrolactone)Concentration: Minor whole-plant isolate, characterised by X-ray crystallography
Notable because the exocyclic 3-methylidene group makes it a genuine alpha-methylene-gamma-butyrolactone, the electrophilic motif that alkylates protein thiols. That is the structural basis both for Asteraceae sesquiterpene-lactone contact allergy and for much of the non-selective cytotoxicity seen in this genus.
Acyclic 12-hydroxygeranylgeraniol-derived diterpenoids
Acyclic diterpenoidConcentration: Constituents of the seeds, not reported from the aerial parts
An unusual acyclic diterpene series found in the seed. One member was cytotoxic to SMMC-7721 hepatoma cells in vitro. Because these compounds are seed-specific, they are absent from the aerial-part or whole-plant material a practitioner would normally handle.
Guaianolide sesquiterpene lactones
Guaianolide sesquiterpene lactoneConcentration: Four new guaianolides reported from whole plants in 2014; individually minor
A structural class rarely reported elsewhere in Carpesium, which is why they are useful for distinguishing this species chemically from Carpesium abrotanoides and Carpesium divaricatum. No pharmacology has been published for them.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Carpesii Fructus (He Shi) and Herba Carpesii Abrotanoidis (Tian Ming Jing), from Carpesium abrotanoides
The Chinese name for this species, An Hua Jin Wa Er, is built on the Jin Wa Er stem shared across the genus, and the plant is gathered from the wild rather than cultivated. Carpesium abrotanoides is the only pharmacopoeial member of the genus, supplying the anthelmintic fruit He Shi and the whole herb Tian Ming Jing. The two plants overlap in range and habit and share germacranolide chemistry, but C. triste has no anthelmintic evidence at all and no established dose. Wild-collected genus-level material is therefore not interchangeable with the pharmacopoeial drug in either direction.
Clinical note: Do not accept wild-collected Carpesium herb as a substitute for He Shi where an anthelmintic effect is intended, and do not read the He Shi dosing range across to this species. Require the binomial on the certificate of analysis.
Topical and systemic treatment for allergic contact dermatitis
At least one eudesmanolide characterised from this species carries an intact exocyclic alpha-methylene on the gamma-butyrolactone, the Michael-acceptor motif responsible for Compositae contact allergy. No patch-test series has been published for Carpesium triste, so this is inferred from the isolated structure and from the well-established behaviour of the compound class, not measured in the species. Absence of an assay is not evidence of absence.
Clinical note: Treat handling of the fresh plant, and any topical preparation, as a sensitisation risk in patients with known Compositae or sesquiterpene-lactone allergy. Investigate a spreading eczematous reaction as contact allergy rather than escalating topical steroid.
Dosage Calculator
⚖ Dosage Calculator
A weight-based mathematical estimate for Carpesium triste. Not a prescription.
Evidence Tier
3 studies on recordRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
3
1 verified · 2 unverified
Show 3 studies
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
Cytotoxic germacranolide sesquiterpene lactones from Carpesium triste var. manshuricum
A cell-culture study, not a clinical trial. Four known germacranolides, including divaricin B, were recovered from the chloroform-soluble fraction of whole plants of the manshuricum variety, which current taxonomy treats as a synonym of Carpesium triste itself. All four were cytotoxic to A549, SK-OV-3, SK-MEL-2, XF498 and HCT15 human tumour lines with ED50 values of 4.3 to 16.8 micromolar. No normal-cell comparator was included, so nothing can be said about selectivity.
A germacranolide sesquiterpene lactone suppressed inducible nitric oxide synthase by downregulating NF-κB activity
Mechanistic macrophage work on one isolated constituent. The germacranolide EDAG, from Carpesium triste var. manshuricum, cut nitric oxide output and iNOS mRNA and protein in LPS-activated macrophages. The effect tracked with inhibition of NF-kappaB: less I-kappaB-alpha degradation, less p65 nuclear translocation, and reduced ERK1/2 and p38 phosphorylation with JNK unchanged. It gives a plausible molecular account of a heat-clearing, swelling-reducing action but was never tested in an animal or a patient.
Cytotoxic Germacranolides and Acyclic Diterpenoides from the Seeds of Carpesium triste
Phytochemistry with a cytotoxicity screen, on seeds specifically. Four new highly oxygenated germacranolides and four new acyclic diterpenes were isolated alongside three known germacranolides. Several germacranolides were significantly cytotoxic to HL-60 promyelocytic leukaemia cells and one diterpene to SMMC-7721 hepatoma cells; L02 normal hepatocytes were included as a comparator. Because the material was seed, these constituents should not be assumed present in whole-plant or aerial-part preparations.
References
- Zhang JP, Wang GW, Tian XH, Yang YX, Liu QX, Chen LP, Li HL, Zhang WD. The genus Carpesium: A review of its ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry and pharmacology . Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2015) [DOI]
- Kim MR, Suh BR, Kim JG, Kim YH, Kim DK, Moon DC. Sesquiterpene lactones from Carpesium triste var. manshuricum . Phytochemistry (1999) [DOI]
- Wu HB, Wang WS, Liu TT, Jiao YG. Eudesmanolides and Guaianolides from Carpesium triste . Helvetica Chimica Acta (2014) [DOI]
- Liu TT, Wu HB, Wang WS. 6,8-Dihydroxy-8a-methyl-3,5-dimethylidenedecahydronaphtho[2,3-b]furan-2(3H)-one . Acta Crystallographica Section E Structure Reports Online (2012) [DOI]
- Gao X, Zhang ZX, Jia ZJ. New Acyclic 12-Hydroxygeranylgeraniol-Derived Diterpenoids from the Seeds of Carpesium triste . Helvetica Chimica Acta (2008) [DOI]
- Shi NN, Hou CC, Liu Y, Li KY, Mi SD, Tong BL, Zhang ML. Chemical constituents of plants from the genus Carpesium . Heterocyclic Communications (2022) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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